


Look What The Cat Dragged In

by mek20019



Category: Carmilla - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-27
Updated: 2016-06-27
Packaged: 2018-07-18 13:19:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7316803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mek20019/pseuds/mek20019
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Based off of OTPisms' post:  http://otpisms.tumblr.com/post/145461892850/otp-idea-485</p><p>["Person A finds a cat during a raging storm and goes into the closest corner store to purchase supplies to look after the noisy little guy. Person B is the only person working there that night and, after hearing the meowing coming from Person A’s jacket, offers to let them wait out the storm inside."</p><p>Also posted on tumblr.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Look What The Cat Dragged In

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of OTPisms' post: http://otpisms.tumblr.com/post/145461892850/otp-idea-485
> 
> ["Person A finds a cat during a raging storm and goes into the closest corner store to purchase supplies to look after the noisy little guy. Person B is the only person working there that night and, after hearing the meowing coming from Person A’s jacket, offers to let them wait out the storm inside."
> 
> Also posted on tumblr.

OTPisms #485 Prompt

“Son of Lily Potter!” screamed Laura Hollis as she saw her bus depart from the stop she hadn’t yet reached. She usually loved her job at Silas University’s main library, but Laura’s night was determined to disappoint her it seemed—the vending machine lacked her favorite cookies; someone spilled Red Bull all over the check-out counter and left it for her to clean up; and people would just not be quiet. [IT’S A LIBRARY!] she wanted to yell at everyone who spoke above a whispering-level. Plus that slack-off Roger was 23 minutes late, which made her miss that ravenclawing bus.  
Oh well, she thought as she plopped on the bus bench. She then unzipped her massive backpack to fish out a book (Insurgent by Veronica Roth) to occupy her time. No sooner than she located inside her controlled-chaos of textbooks did thunder and its echo overran the nighttime sky. Without warning and oh-so-suddenly, a down pour began. Laura was drenched.  
Laura had to rationalize—the bus would be another 18 minutes (give or take) but she could walk home in about 12. At night, like now, she often opted for the bus for safety concerns, but this storm changed the cost-benefit argument going on in her head. With a decision made, Laura rezipped her bag, balanced it over her head, and started the long dash towards her dorm. She sprinted five blocks before her clumsy nature took over and tripped on uneven, broken sidewalk that she couldn’t see in the darkness and waves of raindrops. “Dammit! Dammit dammit dammit!” Laura herself was surprised by her profane outburst, but couldn’t fault herself given the night’s circumstances. She sat up to assess the damage and found her jeans torn at the knee, which also had blood coming out of it. The crimson liquid was immediately watered down as the rain continued. She lifted herself from the sidewalk when she became aware of the bush besides her moving.  
[What the…] Laura thought. Her curiosity always got the better of her. She crept closer to the shrub. It moved again, so Laura crept more. A car drove by and its lights illuminated two eyes in the plant. A cat stepped out towards Laura before she could unleash a blood-curding scream. Laura stretched out her hand and her heart already melted before the cat rubbed up against her, trusting her immediately.  
“Okay, little buddy,” Laura quietly and soothingly said as she picked them up. “Let’s get you somewhere dry ASAP. That means as soon as possible.” Did I just explain a commonly-used phrase to a cat? she thought as she slipped her coat off to bundle around the lost cat. Laura recalled this little convenience store that LaF would grab life necessities from a block or two from this side of campus, so instead of going to the dorms, Laura reset course for that store.

 

The door closed swiftly behind her and the bell attached to it proclaimed her presence. She heard a sigh but couldn’t tell from whom or from where.  
“Welcome to the Corner Store. We close in three minutes,” a very level voice said.  
“Um, hello?” Laura asked. Silence was the response. “Well, I don’t know if you’re aware but there’s a storm going on. Like, a super-ultra-mega-Sharknado-without-sharks-style storm out there.” A silent pause happened again. “Well, I mean, like, it’s not a tornado either. But it’s a storm. Anyway, I missed my bus and am still 10 minutes or so from home. The dorms. Dorm-home. And just needed a break somewhere dry,” Laura babbled.  
“Welcome to the Corner Store. We close in two minutes,” the level voice said.  
Laura had walked through the aisles, looking for the employee, but still didn’t see the person with whom she was having a conversation. As she reached the counter, she asked, “Where are you?”  
Just then a raven-haired young woman revealed herself from behind said counter. “Here,” she calmly replied as the drenched one tried to suppress her surprise. “Welcome to the Corner Store. We close in about one minute.”  
Laura quickly glanced at the clerk’s name tag. “Hi Carmilla, I get it. There’s a storm. You want to go. You’ve probably had a long night and you deserve to go home. But—please—let me stay a few minutes for the rain to lighten up or until a friend can pick me up.”  
The store employee smirked, crossed her arms, and just continued to stare at Laura.  
“Is that a yes or a no?” Laura inquired.  
In response, Carmilla walked from behind the counter, clicked off the Open sign and main lights, locked the door, and returned until she was face-to-face with Laura. “Well…” Carmilla said.  
“Hmm?” Laura said in reply.  
“Call a friend, Soaking Strawberry Shortcake. I can’t leave you here alone,” Carmilla patiently explained.  
“Oh! Right!” Laura exclaimed.  
Carmilla resumed lying on the floor behind the counter.

 

“Um, Carmilla?” Laura peaked around to the open-end of the counter. At work, Carmilla had created a make-shift bed behind the counter, and, from her ease, Laura gathered this was not the first time she had done so. A striped outside-lounge chair cushion was on the floor, covered with a wine-red comforter and matching pillows, and a desk lamp made her work more like an isolationist den.  
“Yes, stranger who hasn’t introduced herself to me despite the fact I’m doing her a favor and trusting her not to hurt me or steal from my place of employment?” Carmilla retorted.  
“Oh my God, you’re right! I’m sorry! I, uh, am Laura Hollis, and I’m a freshman at Silas. And, I know I haven’t said it, but thank you. I appreciate your kindness in letting me be here right now,” Laura promptly expressed gratitude.  
“Okay, freshman Hollis, what’s going on?” Carmilla asked, not even glancing up from her book (its cover was so faded that Laura couldn’t tell its title).  
“One of my friends, my TA, is leaving to come pick me up,” Laura replied.  
“Alright. Welcome to the Corner Store. We closed four minutes ago,” Carmilla flatly said.  
Laura laughed. She wasn’t sure if it was out of a habit, but despite the awkward exchanges they’ve had, Laura admittedly liked this stranger. Maybe kind-hearted wouldn’t be an accurate word to describe Carmilla, but she was still here at the store, still let Laura be here, and that counts for something in Laura’s mind. “Here’s the bad part: she said it’d be at least thirty minutes, since she’s leaving a party.”  
Carmilla opened her mouth but instead a muffled meow came from the jacket in Laura’s arms. “What the frilly hell was that?” Carmilla demanded.

 

“So now what are you going to do with ’em if you can’t have them in the dorms?” Carmilla asked. The three of them (Carmilla, Laura, and the cat) were in Carmilla’s cozy nook, and the cat was unquestioningly enjoying the attention. Supporting Laura’s theory that Carmilla was trust-worthy, Carmilla had purchased a small bag of cat food for Laura and gave the cat something to eat almost immediately as she listened to Laura filler her in on her night, from the annoying library night to being clumsy to coming to the Corner Store.  
“Haven’t *really* thought of that yet. I know I should plan it out, but she’s just so cute!” Laura exclaimed.  
“Okay, fair enough. Not a she though,” Carmilla countered.  
“Hmm?”  
Carmilla just smirked and lifted an eyebrow to answer Laura.  
“Oh, he. The cat’s a he,” Laura realized.  
“You look deflated at that, freshman.”  
“It’s just that he needs a different name then,” Laura explained.  
“Wait a second. You don’t know what you’ll be doing with lost-in-a-storm cat, but you gave him a temporary name? Didn’t you ever read Charlotte’s Web or any book that warns you of getting attached to an animal when you shouldn’t, Cupcake?” Carmilla pointed out.  
Laura deflected. “You like food-based nicknames.” She also observed the slightest blush spread over Carmilla’s face.  
“Wait, what name did you give him then?” Carmilla asked.  
Now it was Laura’s turn to blush. “Uh…Professor Minerva McGonagall. Minnie for short,” Laura answered.  
“Oh, you probably have a fake Hogwarts acceptance level taped up in your dorm, don’t you?” Carmilla teased.  
“Now do I tell you No because Voldemort was in power when I was young and thus I don’t have one as I’m Muggle-born OR do I tell you Yes because the Queen, J.K. Rowling, says everyone was given a letter?” Laura passionately debated out loud.  
“Oh boy,” Carmilla said with the faint traces of a smile long-forgotten.  
“Speaking of boys, what should I call him now?” Laura asked, gesturing to the purring cat in her lap.  
“Just give him a nickname from it—Prof MM? Prof Mc? Mc G? Purry Potter?” suggested Carmilla, making Laura giggle (and making their respective blushes both return). “Well, does it have to be Harry Potter related? Or what other fandoms would you allow?”  
“…No, it doesn’t have to be,” Laura said hesitantly.  
Carmilla shifted her body, fixed her gaze on Laura’s eyes, and gently asked, “Laura, why did you name this cat Professor Minerva McGonagall?” If Carmilla hadn’t thought Laura was a personified babbling brook beforehand, Laura provided irrefutable proof as a response to her question now.  
“It’s a cat! Of course I want to name it after McGonagall! She, Professor McGonagall, is just SO amazing but still, no matter how much I love her and reread the books, I feel she’s underappreciated. Her relationship with Harry just makes me cry. But it’s more than that—it’s her strength, intelligence, leadership, loyalty, gah, just EVERYTHING! She’s just a hero of mine, a role model who I want to be more like, and now I named a cat I can’t even keep after her. And the cat’s a guy!” Laura rattled off. A quiet pause fell over the store. “Oh great, now I’ve gone and made the cute clerk think I’m a nerd.”  
Carmilla just smiled, a sad smile, but one that Laura thought she would never get enough of. “Actually, I thought you were a nerd when you referenced a SyFy movie, so no worries; plus who didn’t love that movie? I do need to say that I prefer ‘devastatingly attractive’ to ‘cute’ though. Regardless how about Smith for the cat’s name?” Laura just stared, perplexed. “As in Maggie Smith…? Since she plays McGonagall, it’s still a way to, like, honor or connect this cat to all those things you listed?”  
“Smith…I like that. Like, really like that,” Laura said as she reached down to pet the cat.  
“Also, for the record, sometimes ‘cute clerks’ have a thing for cat-carrying cuties with an appreciation for quote nerdy unquote things,” Carmilla began and Laura froze. “This one does anyway,” Carmilla concluded.  
“Wait, what?” Laura, no longer frozen, asked slightly louder due to her confusion. She looked up and witnessed Carmilla leaning towards her. Laura felt herself also moving towards Carmilla. Their lips were three inches apart; Carmilla’s hand cradled Laura’s face; and Laura tilted her head to the right, noticeably moving faster to meet—when a knock on the door interrupted them. A very tall, red-head named Danny stood, looking in and knocking, there to pick Laura up.

“Laura, you know you can’t bring that cat to the hall. Betty, actually, Betty wouldn’t notice at all. But that uptight floor don most assuredly will and she’ll get you in trouble,” Danny reasoned.  
“Danny, I know, I know. But I see your point and show you that LOOK HOW CUTE SMITH IS!” Laura gushed.  
“But, Laura,” Danny argued, “You cannot keep it, so what are the alternatives? You can probably keep him overnight, but then—we can do posters, looking for his owners, or drop him off at the shelter.”  
“I mean, I don’t mind the posters—and we should, especially if he has a family, but, Danny, I can’t drop him off at the shelter ever. Picture him in the cage, just waiting to be loved and have a home,” Laura countered.  
“I just don’t know how long you can keep Perry off your back, Hollis, but we’ll try,” Danny stated.  
“We’ll handle that when we have to,” Laura said, full of optimism.  
“Th-this probably sounds weird, but my Mom has pets of her own and probably wouldn’t mind, and part of me feels like I was a cat in a former life sometimes, and Smith is really damn cute, but, uh, I could keep him. It’s a more stable, longer term solution that playing Scooby Doo in the dorm rooms. And then you could see him whenever you want,” Carmilla offered shyly.  
“I’m not sure I can ask you to do that. But it would be AMAZING, Carm! Carmilla, sorry. Would you really be able to do that?” Laura asked.  
“Yeah, it’ll be no problem,” Carmilla replied.  
“Great! I’ll just give you my number then—and then could we plan something for tomorrow?” Laura excitedly inquired.  
“I’d love that,” Carmilla replied.


End file.
